Give It a Shot! – Awesomenauts

Hello everyone, Judge here bringing you another edition of “Give It a Shot!” Today’s item which should be given a shot is the video game Awesomenauts by Dutch developer Ronimo Games.

Awesomenauts is a 2D MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) released May 2012 on Xbox Live Arcade and August 2012 on Steam. Some popular MOBA’s include Dota 2 and League of Legends. However, this is one of the few, if the not the only one, presented in a 2D space.

So, what makes Awesomenauts worth checking out? For starters, it’s very visually appealing. The presentation of the game is nice and colorful and really makes you want to jump in and play. Second, if you’re looking for a less complicated MOBA, this game is for you. Since it’s in a 2D environment, there’s less to keep track of. Gameplay and mechanics are simplified, and there are some nice guides on the Steam forums.

By far the most appealing aspect of Awesomenauts is the characters. All of them are expertly designed. Hats off to Ronimo for their dedication and passion in this regard. The voice over work for each character is also top notch and helps highlight the uniqueness of each one. Ronimo has even enlisted some famous Youtubers to voice some of their characters. Skølldir was voiced by Simon of Yogscast, Vinnie and Spike was voiced by TotalBiscuit, and the latest edition Genji was voiced by Jesse Cox aka OMFGcata.

Some other great things about this game include the music and sound. The background music is stellar; every character also has a theme. Gnaw’s themes in particular stands out to me; it’s dopey but funny. All the abilities of each character have nicely accompanied sounds to them as well.

Some minor complaints I had when I first picked up the game, however, were balance issues and bugs. Some characters and team comps were clearly more superior to others, and there were times I was matched with players clearly more skilled than I was. Lots of these things were addressed in patch 1.15 back in March, so that’s a relief.

Also, while the PC/Steam version continues to receive these constant updates and patches, the Xbox version hasn’t received one sincelast July. This means many newer characters are Steam exclusive. The reasoning is quite simple: patching on Xbox is expensive (anyone remember the Fez patch?). I don’t really have a problem with this since I play it on Steam, but if you’re considering trying out this game, you might want to get it on the PC for the extra stuff.

Well then, I hope after reading this some of you will go give this great game a try! Make sure to check out Awesomenauts on Facebook and Twitter. The team at Ronimo is pretty interactive with the community. That’s it for now. Until next time!